Akshardham attack: HC upholds death for three

The Gujarat High Court upheld the Special POTA courts verdict handing down death sentences to three of the six accused in the 2002 terror attack...

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the Special POTA courts verdict handing down death sentences to three of the six accused in the 2002 terror attack in Akshardham Temple,in which 33 people were killed.

The division bench of Justices R M Doshit and K M Thaker upheld the POTA courts judgment,with neither enhancement nor remission of the punishment awarded to the six. The verdict came two years after completion of arguments in the case.

On July 1,2006,the Special POTA court had awarded death sentences to Shan Miyan alias Chand Khan from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh,and Adam Ajmeri and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri from Ahmedabad. It had also awarded life sentence to Mohammed Salim Shaikh and 10- and five-year jail terms to Abdul Miyan Qadr and Altaf Hussain Malek respectively. All three are from Ahmedabad.

Following the judgment by the Special POTA Court,the six accused had filed an appeal in the High Court.

Since April 25,2008,the judgment was kept reserved by the division bench. In November 2009,the convicts had moved a petition praying pronouncement of the judgment.

Talking to reporters after the verdict on Tuesday,Special Public Prosecutor J M Panchal,who resented the state in the court,said the court had taken a serious note of the fact that the accused,despite fully knowing the gravity of their acts,had provided logistical support and help to the terrorists to carry out the bloody attack.

He also said that the court has accepted the confessional statements of five of the accused under the provisions of POTA and corroborative evidence put forward by the prosecution. He said that in its judgment,the High Court has considered the fact that the convicts are Indian citizens. However,the court also did not ignore the fact that the convicts participated in anti-national activity with full knowledge of its consequences.

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On September 24,2002,two Pakistan-based terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba stormed the Akshardham Temple,lobbing grenades and opening indiscriminate fire on the devotees. Twenty-nine visitors,two NSG commandos and two state police commandos were killed and 81 people injured in the attack. NSG commandos,after a night-long gunbattle,killed the terrorists identified as Murtuza Hafiz Yasin and Ashrafali Mohammed Farooq. The militants were connected to Lashkar wing Tehreeq-e-Qasas.

There were 34 accused including the two militants who were killed in the case,of whom the police could arrest only six. Main accused Abu Hamza is still absconding.

Following the confirmation of the death sentences,a pall of gloom descended on the homes of Ajmeri and Mansuri in the city. Though the chargesheet said Ajmeri,an autorickshaw driver,had helped the two terrorists in choosing the target,his elder brother Ahmed Ajmeri claimed he was innocent and added that he would challenge the sentence in the Supreme Court.